The irony of Steve Spurrier, noted tormentor of the Georgia Bulldogs as an opposing coach, accepting an award in Georgia didn’t escape notice Thursday night.

Spurrier received an award for career-long contributions to the sport during the College Football Awards show, held at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta and televised nationally on ESPN.

Afterward, a reporter asked Spurrier if he had been tempted to mark the occasion and location by taking one more dig at the Dogs during his in-show remarks.

“I hope me and the Bulldogs are buddies a little bit,” Spurrier replied. “Can’t ever be too big a buddies, though. I’m back working at Florida.”

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled collegiate athletes cannot be considered university employees and, thus, are not eligible for minimum wage pay. The reasoning was circular, but interestingly, the case didn’t involve athletes in a revenue producing sport and one of the appellate judges appeared to indicate his decision might have been different in that setting.

Larry Scott isn’t happy with ESPN’s attempt to create a little drama with the fourth spot in the CFP.

Evidence in a defamation lawsuit “clearly indicates” the NCAA disregarded the truth to reach a “predetermined conclusion” that former USC assistant coach Todd McNair knew of Reggie Bush’s NCAA violations, according to a ruling Monday by a California appeals court.

The decision from McNair’s defamation lawsuit against the NCAA casts further doubt about whether the Trojans should have been hit with extensive penalties in 2010…

I’m sure a finding like that will discourage anyone from going after the NCAA ever again.

In a related note, it looks like Art Briles has concluded his coaching career is over.

Former Baylor football coach Art Briles sued three school regents and a vice president for libel and slander Thursday, accusing them of falsely stating he knew of reported assaults and alleged gang rapes by players and didn’t report them.

The lawsuit also asserts that Baylor officials conspired to damage his reputation and keep him from getting another coaching job. The lawsuit additionally seeks damages for emotional distress and likely ending his career as a coach “on any level.”

“Some people think themselves above the law, but the laws of Texas establish accountability for everyone, even renegade, self-dealing regents of a Christian university,” Briles’ lawsuit states.

The odds on this one ever seeing the light of day in open court are minuscule, of course, but Briles didn’t file suit to get his day there. He’s just looking for a little more retirement money.

Even though the four defendants are poised to defeat Briles’s lawsuit, Briles can inflict a good deal of harm on the university before the case is resolved. This is mainly through pretrial discovery. If Briles’s lawsuit advances past an early dismissal, the lawsuit would proceed to pretrial discovery. During discovery, both sides would be required to share sensitive information and also answer difficult and invasive questions while under oath.

“I know people think we’re pretentious, but it’s really a product of sophistication,” Mr. Lake told New Musical Express in 1973. “To judge pretentiousness, I think you must look at the people behind it and their motives. As a band we’re into trying to advance our instruments — sometimes to a bizarre degree — which obviously puts some people off.”

I say this as someone who went through an ELP phase in high school — sorry, Greg, but you guys were pretentious. Doesn’t mean I didn’t buy my share of King Crimson…

… and ELP albums, though.

The man did have some pipes.

Man, that whole progressive rock thing seems so long ago now. Probably because it was.

You may have heard the news that Christmas is coming early for this blogger in that Junior is about to land the Houston job (you’d better have a hefty buyout in that contract, boys). Assuming that comes to fruition, this will mark the second straight year that Saban lost a coordinator to another school just as the national championship was in sight.

Sooooo… I can’t help but wonder if the Laner has any plans on pulling a Kirby and sticking around Tuscaloosa through the playoffs. If Phil Savage is to be believed, apparently no such thing is in the works.

Regardless, if Kiffin were to accept another job, Savage said he expects the former Tennessee coach to break ties.

“I happen to think if he gets one of these head jobs he will not stay through the playoffs,” Savage explained. “Last year, we talked about this. When Kirby Smart, who was a loyal lieutenant to Nick Saban, tried to stay through the national championship, there were some ups and downs. It’s hard to serve two masters.

“In this case, there is a built in replacement in Steve Sarkisian. Last year, there really wasn’t a next man up at defensive coordinator.”

Which will beg the question — did Kirby stay out of loyalty to Alabama’s players or Alabama’s head coach? If it turns out to be the latter to any extent, I hope that McGarity at least got a Christmas card for his kindness.